BOW, or STRATFORD-le-BOW, a parish in the
Tower division of the hundred of OSSULSTONE, county
of MIDDLESEX, 4 miles (E. N. E.) from London, containing
2349 inhabitants. This place derives its name
" Stratford" from an ancient ford over the river Lea,
on the line of the Roman stratum, or road from London
to Du.rolitu.rn (Layton in Essex). It is said that Matilda,
queen of Henry I., passing this dangerous ford, narrowly
escaped being drowned, and consequently ordered a
bridge to be erected, from the arched form of which the
village received the adjunct to its name. This bridge,
which is supposed to have been the first of its kind
erected in the kingdom, is by some referred to the time
of Alfred the Great, whose arms are carved on the central
stone: it consists of three groined arches, of which
the central arch is considerably larger than the rest, and,
from its inconvenient narrowness, a wooden platform has
been constructed on the outside of one of the parapets,
for the accommodation of foot passengers. The village
is pleasantly situated: the streets are paved, and
lighted with gas, and the inhabitants, are supplied with
water by the East London Company's works. The manufacture
of porcelain, formerly carried on to a considerable
extent, has been discontinued; and the fair
annually held at Whitsuntide has, within the last few
years, been entirely suppressed. Bow is within the jurisdiction
of the court of requests held in Whitechapel,
for the recovery of debts under 40s.: three headboroughs
and a constable are annually appointed at the
court leet of the lord of the manor. By an act of parliament
passed in 1730, it was made a separate parish,
having been severed from that of Stepney, to which it
was previously a chapelry. The living is a rectory, in
the archdeaconry of Middlesex, and diocese of London,
and in the patronage of the Principal and Fellows of
Brasenose College, Oxford, by whom an addition has
recently been made to the stipend of the rector. The
church, dedicated to St. Mary, was founded in the reign
of Henry II.; it is an ancient structure, partly in the
Norman, and partly in the early English, style of architecture,
with a low square tower, having a small
turret at one of the angles: the east window is ornamented
with the figures of Moses and Aaron, and of
the twelve Apostles, in stained glass. The churchyard
being too small, a new burying-ground is nearly completed,
under an act obtained in the 6th of George IV.
There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan
Methodists; the latter, though belonging to the congregation
in this place, is situated within the parish
of Bromley St. Leonard. The free school was founded
in 1613, by Sir John Jolles, who endowed it for thirtyfour
boys of this parish and that of Bromley St. Leonard:
it is under the superintendence of the Drapers'
Company: the school-house, which is situated in the
churchyard, has been lately rebuilt. Another school
for fifty boys was founded, in 1701, by Mrs. Prisca
Coburne, who endowed it with bouses and lands at
that time producing £40 per annum; but, from the
increased value of the property, the income, on the
expiration of the present leases, will amount to £500
per annum: a school-room has been built for one huninspection
of the rectors of St. Mary, Stratford le Bow
and four adjoining parishes. A National school is SUDported
by subscription. Sir John Jolles also founded
and endowed almshouses for eight poor people  and
there are other charitable bequests for the relief of
the poor.